Tag Archives: Beijing

January 6, 2010

Top Stories –
Talk to your TV –
Web-based phone company Skype agrees a deal with LG and Panasonic for them to embed the Skype technology in television models with Internet connections, and will sell separate Web cameras that have built-in microphones for TV viewers who want to use Skype.

Time to join the gym (again) –
About 5,000 members of website BeautifulPeople.com – the networking site for attractive individuals – have been placed back in the “rating” section for putting on weight over Christmas. The United States has the most members who got kicked out (1,520), followed by the U.K. (832) and Canada (533).
Top Video –

Los Angeles: in motion from Michael Marantz on Vimeo.

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January 25, 2010

Top Stories –
Brangelina rumour –
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are set to separate according to reports. The unmarried couple are said to have been in talks with lawyers to agree a £205 million split deal.
Angelina_Jolie_Brad_PittAngelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

Pirate’s plunder blunder –
Single-mum Jammie Thomas-Rasset found guilty of sharing 24 songs over the internet has had her fine slashed from $2m (£1.23m) to $54,000 (£33,420) following an appeal. The American was accused of pirating almost 2,000 tracks but the record companies sought damages for only 24 of them.

X-files factor –
Lord Rees, the president of the Royal Society and Astronomer Royal, says the chance of discovering life on other worlds is greater than ever. He says “Were we to find life, even the simplest life, elsewhere that would clearly be one of the great discoveries of the 21st Century.”

 

Top Video –
Mr and Mrs Smith Trailer

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February 1, 2010

Top News Stories –

Rip Torn in US court on burglary charges –
Rip Torn appeared in a Connecticut court on Monday, facing burglary and firearms charges after police allegedly found the actor intoxicated and armed inside a local bank. Police said the 78-year-old actor was arrested on Friday night after authorities allegedly found him inside the Litchfield Bancorp in Salisbury with a loaded revolver. The “Men in Black” actor was held in lieu of $100,000 (£63,000) bond. [Daily Telegraph]
Rip_Torn Rip Torn

AC/DC win first Grammy of career –
The band won the best hard rock performance statuette for the song War Machine, beating the previous winners Metallica and Linkin Park as well as Nickelback and Alice in Chains. Beyoncé took an early lead in the Grammys, winning four trophies during a non-televised ceremony in Los Angeles.
The Black Eyed Peas were right behind her with three awards, including best pop vocal album in the pre-telecast announcement of 100 of the 109 Grammy categories. Taylor Swift, the runner-up for the most Grammy nominations with eight, won her first trophy of the night, best female country vocal for White Horse. She also won best country song for White Horse with the songwriter Liz Rose. Lady Gaga was also among the double-winners, along with the rock group Kings of Leon, the rappers Jay-Z and Eminem, and Maxwell. See List of the Day [Daily Telegraph]
AC_DCAC/DC

Cat predicts 50 deaths in RI nursing home
A cat with an uncanny ability to detect when nursing home patients are about to die has proven itself in around 50 cases by curling up with them in their final hours, according to a new book. Dr David Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor at Brown University, said that five years of records showed Oscar rarely erring, sometimes proving medical staff at the New England nursing home wrong in their predictions over which patients were close to death. When nurses once placed the cat on the bed of a patient they thought close to death, Oscar “charged out” and went to sit beside someone in another room. The cat’s judgement was better than that of the nurses: the second patient died that evening, while the first lived for two more days. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

LoopLoop from Patrick Bergeron on Vimeo.

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February 11, 2010

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British fashion icon Alexander McQueen commits suicide –
British fashion designer Alexander McQueen was discovered dead today after taking his own life. The industry was left reeling after the 40-year-old’s suicide this morning, which comes just days after the death of his beloved mother, Joyce. Police were called to the designer’s £640,000 flat at 10.20am this morning after he was found dead. A private ambulance arrived to take away his body at 4.30pm. [Daily Mail]
Alexander-McQueenAlexander McQueen

Dark matter ‘seen for first time’ –
Scientists may have caught their first glimpse of dark matter, the mysterious hidden substance believed to give structure to the universe. After nine years of searching, detectors buried 2,000ft underground in an old US iron mine registered two “hits” by what could turn out to be dark matter particles. Both bear the hallmarks of “weakly interacting massive particles” or “Wimps”, one of the most likely dark matter candidates.
But frustratingly, two detections are not quite enough to clinch the discovery. There is still a one in four chance that the results, published by the journal Science, are due to accidental background “noise”. The scientists say five detections would be sufficient to confirm the presence of Wimps. [Daily Telegraph]

Dutch police find Valentine’s Day roses stuffed with cocaine –
Dutch police found more than £1 million worth of cocaine in a shipment of 20,000 Valentine’s Day roses that arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport from Colombia. Prosecutors said eight kilogrammes of cocaine was hidden in cardboard boxes containing the roses. It was packaged into 20-gramme cellophane parcels hidden in false panels in 200 flower boxes on a plane from Bogota. Three alleged smugglers were arrested in the Netherlands after the discovery, including the importer. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Polar Bear from Plane Stupid on Vimeo.

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June 17, 2015

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Angolan capital remains ‘most expensive city’ for expats –
The Angolan capital, Luanda, remains the world’s most expensive city for expatriates, according to an annual survey by consultancy Mercer. The city has held the number one spot for the past three years because of the high cost of rent, imported goods and security in the oil-rich nation. However, the rest of the cost of living rankings saw significant shifts due to exchange rate fluctuations. Asian cities now account for half of the top 10 costliest destinations. Hong Kong rose to second place and Singapore remained in fourth because of their expensive property and rental markets. Shanghai, Beijing and Seoul also made the top 10. [BBC] See List of the Day

Madonna premieres star-studded ‘Bitch I’m Madonna’ video on Tidal –
Madonna has unveiled her new video – complete with cameo appearances by Beyonce, Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry – on the new streaming service [launched in March] she runs with stars including Jay Z and Kanye West. The video for Bitch I’m Madonna, from her well-received Rebel Heart album, will be shown exclusively on the Tidal service for 24 hours before being released to the wider public. The line-up on the video, which was filmed in New York, also includes Nicki Minaj, new X Factor judge Rita Ora, Chris Rock and Madonna’s sons Rocco and David. [Daily Telegraph] See Video of the Day
MadonnaMadonna

South Carolina church shooting: Nine die in Charleston ‘hate crime’ –
Nine people have died in a shooting at a historic African-American church in Charleston in the US state of South Carolina, officials say. City police chief Gregory Mullen said eight of the victims were killed inside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on Wednesday evening, while another person died shortly afterwards. Police are now searching for a white male suspect in his 20s. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

TIDAL | Madonna ft. Nicki Minaj | Bitch I’m Madonna Behind the scenes

List of the Day –

The 25 costliest cities for living abroad

2015 2014 Change City Country
1 1 – Luanda Angola
2 3 +1 Hong Kong Hong Kong
3 5 +2 Zurich Switzerland
4 4 – Singapore Singapore
5 6 +1 Geneva Switzerland
6 10 +4 Shanghai China
7 11 +4 Beijing China
8 14 +6 Seoul South Korea
9 8 -1 Bern Switzerland
10 2 -8 N’Djamena Chad
11 7 -4 Tokyo Japan
12 12 – London United Kingdom
13 20 +7 Kinshasa Congo
14 17 +3 Shenzhen China
15 24 +9 Guangzhou China
16 16 – New York City United States
17 13 -4 Victoria Seychelles
18 18 – Tel Aviv Israel
19 86 +67 Buenos Aires Argentina
20 25 +5 Lagos Nigeria
21 54 +33 Shenyang China
22 34 +12 Conakry Guinea
23 67 +44 Dubai United Arab Emirates
24 15 -9 Copenhagen Denmark
25 48 +24 Qingdao China

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2 #3PalabrasAntesDelSexo #putchocolateinasong #FixtureReleaseDay
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4 Ramadan Mubarak Madonna #RuinAFineBook
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July 22, 2015

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Madonna compares herself to Pablo Picasso –
Madonna thinks artists deep into their careers should stop if they do not have anything more to say. But at 56, the singer says she wants to keep going – and feels like Pablo Picasso. “I like to compare myself to other kinds of artists like Picasso. He kept painting and painting until the day he died. Why? Because I guess he felt inspired to do so,” she said. “Life inspired him, so he had to keep expressing himself, and that’s how I feel.” Madonna released her self-titled debut album in 1983, and her latest album, “Rebel Heart,” earlier this year. She said the key to sticking around is her continual desire to inspire others. “I don’t think there’s a time, a date, an expiration date for being creative,” she said. “I think you go until you don’t have any more to say.” [Daily Telegraph] Madonna launched her latest video on June 17, 2015
MadonnaMadonna

Taylor Swift Chinese clothing line with ‘TS’ and ‘1989’ touches Tiananmen Square nerve –
Taylor Swift has accidentally touched a political nerve in the lead up to her China tour by promoting merchandise with the letters ‘TS’ and the date ‘1989’ — shared by the Tiananmen Square massacre, which remains heavily censored in mainland China. The American star was due to launch her new range of clothing on China’s biggest retailer platforms, Taobao and Jing Dong (JD.com), in the run up to her forthcoming China tour. However, the tour slated for November, could be jeopardised given the sensitive nature of the cack-handed reference. Both the tour and album were named after Swift’s date of birth, 1989, but also allude to the year in which reportedly thousands of innocent civilians were mown down by government forces in Beijing among student protests. [Daily Telegraph]
Taylor-Swift Taylor Swift

A $7 Billion Charge at Microsoft Leads to Its Largest Loss Ever –
An accounting charge wiped out Microsoft’s profit for the quarter, leading to its largest loss ever, the company said on Tuesday, making clear the cost of its missteps in the mobile business. The $7.5 billion accounting charge, stemming from Microsoft’s troubled acquisition of Nokia’s cellphone business, was disclosed by the company earlier this month, along with plans to eliminate 7,800 jobs, mostly in the company’s phone operations. While the accounting charge was on paper and will not diminish the company’s huge cash hoard, it was a psychic blow to Microsoft, one of the biggest money makers in tech. [NY Times]

Video of the Day –

SPECTRE – James Bond trailer

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July 31, 2015

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Facebook unveils solar-powered drone that can beam the internet down to earth –
Facebook has unveiled a full-scale prototype of its Aquila drone – the high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft that the Californian tech giant wants to use to beam internet to people in parts of the world that are not yet connected. Aquila, which is solar-powered and named after the eagle in Greek mythology that carried Jupiter’s thunderbolts, is based on technology developed by Somerset-based company Ascenta, which Facebook bought in March 2014 for an estimated £12.5m. “Aquila has the wingspan of a 737 but weighs hundreds of times less, thanks to its unique design and carbon-fiber frame,” said Jay Parikh, vice president of global engineering and infrastructure at Facebook, in a blog post. [Daily Telegraph] See Video of the Day

Naomi Campbell guilty of assault on Sicilian paparazzo –
Naomi Campbell was convicted of assault by a Sicilian court on Friday after she scratched the eye of a paparazzo photographer who took pictures of her and her former boyfriend. The incident occurred in August 2009 when the British supermodel and her then partner Russian billionaire Vladimir Doronin moored their yacht off the Sicilian island of Lipari to visit the local town. They had just arrived from St Tropez. A photographer, Gaetano Di Giovanni, took several photos of Campbell as she walked through the narrow streets. Campbell then hit photographer with her handbag, scratching one of his eyes. [Daily Telegraph]
Naomi-Campbell Naomi Campbell

Beijing to host 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics –
Beijing has been chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, beating the bid of Kazakhstan’s Almaty. Having hosted the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese capital will be the first city to host both a summer and winter Games. Beijing and Almaty were considered outsiders when the 2022 bid race opened two years ago. But after a host of European cities withdrew for political or financial reasons, the Chinese bid beat Almaty by 44 votes to 40 with one abstention. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Inside Facebook’s Connectivity Lab

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August 23, 2015

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Usain Bolt beats Justin Gatlin to win world 100m title –
Usain Bolt produced perhaps his greatest performance of all as he put a troubled build-up behind him to beat two-time doper and clear favourite Justin Gatlin to retain his world 100m title. The controversial Gatlin came into the final on a 28-race unbeaten run and apparently relishing his role as the sport’s bad guy. But at the same Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing where Bolt announced himself to the world with two Olympic golds and two world records in 2008, the Jamaican superstar came past a faltering Gatlin at the death to snatch victory by one hundredth of a second. Bolt’s 9.79 seconds was more than two tenths off his world record, but this was a night for athletics to celebrate victories rather than times. [BBC] See List of the Day
Usain-BoltUsain Bolt

Banksy’s ‘Dismaland’ in England: It’s a Strange World, After All –
WESTON-SUPER-MARE, England — Rain pelted down for much of Sunday afternoon on this drooping beachside resort town where “Dismaland,” the gloomy anti-Disneyland created by the artist Banksy, opened this weekend. “Dismaland,” a satirical take on a theme park, features grumpy guards, funereal theme park games and art by about 60 artists — including Banksy, Damien Hirst and Jenny Holzer. The exhibition had a “locals” day on Friday and opened to the public on Saturday; it runs through late September. The exhibition came largely as a surprise: Members of the British news media had spotted construction at the exhibition site — the abandoned grounds of a former family swimming pool — early last week, and had begun to speculate on what was taking place there. The exhibition includes new and old artwork by Banksy, including a pool with mobile boats full of figurine immigrants in what apparently is the English Channel, and a mural-style work in the his signature silhouette style, which shows a fat cat in a suit gorging himself while a gaunt woman with children stands across from him. [NY Times]
Logo-of-DismalandLogo_of_Dismaland

Met Office loses multi-million pound BBC weather contract –
The Met Office has lost its lucrative weather forecasting contract with the BBC after nearly a century of providing the service. Negotiations to renew the deal hit a dead end and a new firm is expected to take over next year. The BBC said it was legally required to open up the contract to outside competition and secure the best value for money for licence fee payers. Dutch and New Zealand firms are said to be in the running for the contract, which is believed to make up a sizeable share of the £32.5 million a year the Met Office receives from commercial organisations, according to the Mail on Sunday. [Daily Telegraph] See Top Twitter Trends

Mel Gibson accused of pushing female photographer –
Oscar-winning actor Mel Gibson has been accused of pushing a female photographer in Sydney. The Daily Telegraph’s Kristi Miller told Australian media she was pushed and verbally abused while taking pictures of Gibson and his girlfriend. She alleges Gibson’s tirade ended when his partner, 24-year-old US equestrian vaulter Rosalind Ross, intervened. “I thought he was going to punch me in the face,” Ms Miller said. “He was spitting in my face as he was yelling.” Police confirmed they are investigating reports a female photographer was pushed outside a cinema on Sunday night. [BBC] Gibson swore at a TV journalist in February 2010.
Mel-GibsonMel Gibson

Video of the Day –

Subway Love

Subway Love from Max Stossel on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Usain Bolt international competition record

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
2002 World Junior Championships Kingston, Jamaica 1st 200 metres 20.61
2nd 4×100 metres relay 39.15 NJR
2nd 4×400 metres relay 3:04.06 NJR
2003 World Youth Championships Sherbrooke, Canada 1st 200 metres 20.40
2003 Pan American Junior Championships Bridgetown, Barbados 1st 200 metres 20.13 WYB
2nd 4×100 metres relay 39.40
2004 CARIFTA Games Hamilton, Bermuda 1st 200 metres 19.93 WJR
2005 Central American and Caribbean Championships Nassau, Bahamas 1st 200 metres 20.03
2006 World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany 3rd 200 metres 20.10
2006 IAAF World Cup Athens, Greece 2nd 200 metres 19.96
2007 World Championships Osaka, Japan 2nd 200 metres 19.91
2nd 4×100 metres relay 37.89
2008 Olympic Games Beijing, China 1st 100 metres 9.69 WR OR
1st 200 metres 19.30 WR OR
1st 4×100 metres relay 37.10 WR OR
2009 World Championships Berlin, Germany 1st 100 metres 9.58 WR
1st 200 metres 19.19 WR
1st 4×100 metres relay 37.31 CR
2011 World Championships Daegu, South Korea DSQ[226] 100 metres —
1st 200 metres 19.40 WL
1st 4×100 metres relay 37.04 WR
2012 Olympic Games London, United Kingdom 1st 100 metres 9.63 OR
1st 200 metres 19.32
1st 4×100 metres relay 36.84 WR
2013 World Championships Moscow, Russia 1st 100 metres 9.77
1st 200 metres 19.66
1st 4×100 metres relay 37.36
2014 Commonwealth Games Glasgow, Scotland 1st 4×100 metres relay 37.58 GR
2015 World Relay Championships Nassau, Bahamas 2nd 4×100 metres relay 37.68
World Championships Beijing, China 1st 100 metres 9.79

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  • Britain and Iran reopen embassies in each others’ capitals that had been closed after Iranian protesters stormed the British embassy on November 29, 2011. (Reuters)
  • North and South Korea resume talks in the border village of Panmunjon in efforts to defuse recent tensions. (AP)
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August 29, 2015

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World Athletics Championships: Ashton Eaton sets new decathlon world record in Beijing –
 Ashton Eaton’s world record in the decathlon has stolen the limelight from Mo Farah and Usain Bolt on the penultimate night of the world athletics championships in Beijing. Farah completed the long distance double for a second consecutive occasion at a world titles with victory in the men’s 5,000 metres final, while Usain Bolt captured his third gold in the Bird’s Nest in the last seven days when he anchored Jamaica to a win in the men’s 4x100m relay. But it was Eaton who deserved top billing, after the American dipped under his world mark to post a two-day total of 9,045 points. Eaton, the defending champion, collected 829 points in running four minutes and 17.52 seconds in the final event, the 1,500m, enough to beat his previous record by six points. [ABC]
Ashto Eaton tweet Ashton Eaton tweet

 

Mo Farah completes the ‘triple-double’ with 5,000m at the athletics world championships in Beijing –
Mo Farah is the first athlete to win the 5,000 and 10,000m races at successive world championships. The ‘triple-double’: it is a coinage usually confined to basketball, but in Beijing it belongs to the extraordinary Mo Farah, who for a record third successive global championships has completed twin triumphs over 5,000 and 10,000 metres. None of the distance icons – not Emil Zatopek, not Lasse Viren, not Kenenisa Bekele – managed it, but Farah streaked into history at the Bird’s Nest stadium with another exquisitely controlled perfor­mance over 12½ laps. [Daily Telegraph]
British Athletics tweet - Mo Farrah

 

Video of the Day –

Wirecutters

Wire Cutters from Jack Anderson on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Decathlon world record progression [As of August 29, 2015 – Wikipedia]

Points Adjusted
points		 Athlete Nation Date Place
7,485.61 6,087 Aleksander Klumberg  EST 1922-09-22 Helsinki[1]
7,710.775 6,476 Harold Osborn  USA 1924-07-12 Paris[1]
7,820.93 6,460 Paavo Yrjölä  FIN 1926-07-18 Viipuri[1]
7,995.19 6,566 Paavo Yrjölä  FIN 1927-07-17 Helsinki[1]
8,053.29 6,587 Paavo Yrjölä  FIN 1928-08-04 Amsterdam[1]
8,255.475 6,865 Akilles Järvinen  FIN 1930-07-20 Viipuri[1]
8,462.235 6,736 James Bausch  USA 1932-08-06 Los Angeles[1]
8,790.46 7,147 Hans-Heinrich Sievert  GER 1934-07-08 Hamburg[1]
7,900 7,254 Glenn Morris  USA 1936-08-08 Berlin[1]
8,042 7,287 Bob Mathias  USA 1950-06-30 Tulare[1]
7,887 7,592 Bob Mathias  USA 1952-07-26 Helsinki[1]
7,985 7,608 Rafer Johnson  USA 1955-06-11 Kingsburg[1]
8,014 7,653 Vasili Kuznetsov  URS 1958-05-18 Krasnodar[1]
8,302 7,989 Rafer Johnson  USA 1958-07-28 Moscow[1]
8,357 7,839 Vasili Kuznetsov  URS 1959-05-17 Moscow[1]
8,683 7,981 Rafer Johnson  USA 1960-07-09 Eugene[1]
9,121 8,010 Yang Chuan-kwang  ROC 1963-04-28 Walnut[1]
8,230 8,120 Russ Hodge  USA 1966-07-24 Los Angeles[1]
8,319 8,235 Kurt Bendlin  FRG 1967-05-14 Heidelberg[1]
8,417 8,310 Bill Toomey  USA 1969-12-11 Los Angeles[1]
8,454 8,466 Mykola Avilov  URS 1972-09-08 Munich[1]
8,524 8,420 Bruce Jenner[a]  USA 1975-08-10 Eugene[1]
8,538 8,454 Bruce Jenner[a]  USA 1976-06-26 Eugene[1]
8,618 8,634 Bruce Jenner[a]  USA 1976-07-30 Montreal[1]
8,622 8,648 Daley Thompson  GBR 1980-05-15 Götzis[1]
8,649 8,667 Guido Kratschmer  FRG 1980-06-14 Filderstadt-Bernhausen[1]
8,704 8,730 Daley Thompson  GBR 1982-05-23 Götzis[1]
8,723 8,741 Jürgen Hingsen  FRG 1982-08-15 Ulm[1]
8,743 8,774 Daley Thompson  GBR 1982-09-08 Athens[1]
8,779 8,825 Jürgen Hingsen  FRG 1983-06-05[3] Filderstadt-Bernhausen[1]
8,798 8,832 Jürgen Hingsen  FRG 1984-05-09 Mannheim[1]
8,798 8,847 Daley Thompson  GBR 1984-08-09 Los Angeles[1]
8,891 8,891 Dan O’Brien  USA 1992-09-05 Talence[1]
8,994 8,994 Tomáš Dvořák  CZE 1999-07-04 Prague[1]
9,026 9,026 Roman Šebrle  CZE 2001-05-27 Götzis[1]
9,039 9,039 Ashton Eaton  USA 2012-06-23 Eugene[4][5]
9,045 9,045 Ashton Eaton  USA 2015-08-29 Beijing

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September 3, 2015

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Mel Gibson will not be charged for allegedly pushing female photographer –
Mel Gibson will not face charges for allegedly shoving a female photographer in Sydney. Kristi Miller, the photographer, told police Gibson pushed and verbally abused her, and that she feared he “was going to punch me”. New South Wales police announced on Thursday that they would not charge Gibson over the alleged incident, which Ms Miller said took place outside a cinema on 23 August. “At this stage, based on the evidence gathered, no formal action will be taken,” police said in a statement. [Daily Telegraph]
Mel-GibsonMel Gibson

Teen who wants to throw party hacks parents’ phone and changes ‘no’ to ‘hell yes’ using autocorrect –
It is perhaps a given that children these days know more about technology than their parents. And this was perfectly demonstrated by a young man apparently who got his parents to agree to a party they never wanted in the first place. The teenager, known only as Brendan, knew he wouldn’t get the answer he wanted if he asked in the traditional sense. So, he hacked his parents’ phone and changed the autocorrect settings from “no” to “HELL YES”. He asked his parents in a group conversation, which was then posted on imgur: “Hey guys can I throw a party tmrw night. [sic]” His mother tried to say no. However, her phone said “HELL YES”. It is unclear if Brendan threw his party, or got grounded, but his parents will probably keep a closer eye on thier phones from now on. [Daily Telegraph]
Added a shortcut to parents phone everytime they type-Noimgur – Added a shortcut to parents phone everytime they type “No”

Video of the Day –

Surf in High Heels

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10 Corinthians #Streamys Hungary

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October 27, 2015

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Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez announce divorce after two years of marriage –
Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry and her French actor husband, Olivier Martinez, said on Tuesday they are divorcing after two years of marriage. It is the third divorce for Berry, 49, who has a two-year-old son with Martinez. The couple cited irreconcilable differences, according to celebrity website TMZ.com. Berry in 2002 became the only black actress to win an Academy Award for a lead role, clinching the Oscar for her performance in Monster’s Ball. [Daily Telegraph]
Halle_BerryHalle Berry

Darth Vader supporter Chewbacca arrested in Ukraine –
It’s a sentence we never thought we’d write, but here goes: Chewbacca has been arrested in Ukraine after police say they caught him campaigning for Darth Vader. A candidate, using the identity of the Star Wars Sith Lord has been running in local elections in the city of Odessa. It’s claimed the man dressed as Chewbacca had broken election day rules by campaigning on voting day. It’s being reported Chewbacca was fined the equivalent of a fiver. He’d arrived at a polling station along with the candidate when police stepped in. [BBC]

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Create & Explore 009 – Braden Lee x HWLS from Create & Explore on Vimeo.

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December 18, 2015

Top News Stories –

Star Wars film breaks opening night box office record –
The new Star Wars film has set a new opening night box office record in the US and Canada, industry experts said. Star Wars: The Force Awakens made $57m (£38m) on Thursday night, beating the previous record of $43.5m held by Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in 2011. Analysts say the space saga could become the biggest selling movie of all time. The film also set a new opening day box office record in the UK and Ireland. The £9.64m tally beat the previous best of £9.48m set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Midnight screenings on Thursday morning accounted for £2.4m of ticket sales. Rentrak’s Paul Dergarabedian, one of Hollywood’s best-known box office analysts, said the film’s opening night performance in the US and Canada “portends a massive and potentially record-breaking opening day and weekend for the film”. [BBC]

The $70m cost of Uber Force One: Price of private flights for Obama and family –
Barack Obama’s eighth consecutive Christmas vacation to Hawaii starts Friday just as a new report shows the total cost of his vacations has now exceeded $70 million to U.S. taxpayers. The costs are being savaged by a critical conservative group, which says Obama is treating Air Force One, which costs $206,000/hour to run, ‘like an Uber ride’ ahead of his next jaunt to his home state,’ says Tom Fitton, president of the Judicial Watch pressure group. Fly-time alone will set taxpayers back somewhere in the region of $3.5 million as Obama, the First Lady, Sasha and Malia and their two dogs jet off for around two weeks. The total cost of Obama’s vacations since taking office in January 2009 has now hit $70.5 million, according to a new report. Yet he still has not taken anywhere near the total number of vacations or days off as his predecessor, George W. Bush, the report shows. [Daily Mail]
Barack_Obama_meets_his_staff_in_Air_Force_One_Conference_RoomBarack Obama on Air Force One

Iceland grapples with volcano-naming responsibility –
Authorities in Iceland have decided on a name for a volcano a year after it started erupting. Council members in the rural district of Skutustadahreppur, which boasts a population of 371, took on the hefty responsibility to officially name the lava field known conversationally to locals as Holuhraun, the Iceland Review news website reports. After considering four names for the volcano – Flaedahraun, Holuhraun, Nornahraun and Urdarbruni – the vote was carried to officially use the name Holuhraun, despite only getting the backing of two of the five council members, Icelandic newspaper Visir said. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

This Is Not A Pine Tree

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  • In the United States, a group of hospitals, 32 in 15 states, agree to pay a total of $28 million to settle charges they submitted false claims to Medicare for a type of spinal fracture treatment. This is the latest settlement stemming from a decade-oldwhistleblower lawsuit about alleged inappropriate billing for kyphoplasty. More than 130 hospitals have paid about $105 million to settle billing claims from this spinal procedure. (Reuters) (The Arizona Republic)
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January 1, 2016

Top News Stories –

Rat on a plane: Air India flight returns to Mumbai after rodent spotted on board –
An Air India plane flying to London was forced to return to Mumbai after passengers spotted a rat on board, the airline said on Thursday. Though the rat was not found, the pilot returned to Mumbai on Wednesday keeping passenger safety in mind, Air India said in a statement. Passengers were later flown by a separate aircraft to London. The aircraft would be fumigated and checked before it is returned to service. Maintenance workers would have to make sure that the rat did not damage equipment or chew any wires and the plane is certified to be rodent-free, an airline official said. [Daily Telegraph]

China’s new two-child policy law takes effect –
Married couples in China will from Friday (Jan 1) be allowed to have two children, after concerns over an ageing population and shrinking workforce ushered in an end to the country’s controversial one-child policy. The change, which was announced in October by the ruling Communist Party, takes effect from Jan 1, 2016, Beijing’s official Xinhua news agency reported over the weekend. The “one-child policy”, instituted in the late 1970s, restricted most couples to only a single offspring through a system of fines for violators and even forced abortions. For years, authorities argued that it was a key contributor to China’s economic boom and had prevented 400 million births. [Channel News Asia]

Video of the Day –

Philips Presents: The Longest Night from T Brand Studio on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

100 Things we didn’t know last year – by the BBC (1-33)

1. It costs £300 to operate on a constipated goldfish.

Find out more

2. Traditionally, police horses in England’s Thames Valley force can be called Odin, Thor or Hercules, but not Brian.

Find out more

3. Barack Obama calls David Cameron “bro”.

Find out more (Time)

4. The first sports bra was made from two jockstraps.

Find out more

5. One in 10 of Britain’s train carriages still flush toilet waste straight on to the railway tracks.

Find out more

6. Jamaica, Colombia and Saint Lucia are the only countries in the world where a woman is more likely to be a boss than a man.

Find out more (Washington Post)

7. You don’t have to speak French to become French-language Scrabble world champion.

Find out more

8. Kolo Toure, the Ivory Coast and Liverpool defender, hasn’t touched his own dog for seven years.

Find out more (Metro)

9. An egg can be unboiled.

Find out more (Metro)

10. There are four different ways to pronounce diplodocus, and the way children say it is probably more technically correct than the academics’ preferred option.

Find out more

11. A 51-year-old software engineer named Bryan Henderson has edited Wikipedia 47,000 times to remove the ungrammatical term “comprised of”.

Find out more (Backchannel)

12. Buzz Aldrin claimed $33.31 in travel expenses connected to his trip to the moon.

Find out more (Daily Telegraph)

13. Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond once played a ghost in a Bollywood soap opera.

Find out more (Buzzfeed)

14. “Let us turn ours into a country of mushrooms by making mushroom cultivation scientific, intensive and industrialised!” is an official slogan of North Korea.

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15. Roughly 56% of average monthly earnings in Malawi are spent on mobile phone charges, compared with about 0.11% in Macau, China.

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16. Quentin Tarantino still records films from TV on VHS cassettes.

Find out more (Independent)

17. Lollipop men and ladies who “high five” pedestrians may be breaching official protocol.

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18. Squid can fly – but they tend to do it under cover of darkness.

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19. It’s possible to trick the brain into thinking it can hear Mariah Carey sing All I Want For Christmas Is You.

Find out more (New Scientist)

20. King Arthur may have been Glaswegian.

Find out more (The National)

21. A man-sized lobster lived 480 million years ago.

Find out more

22. At Hotel Football, run by ex-Manchester United players, Gary Neville is represented in the bathroom by blackcurrant-extract shampoo while brother Phil is a bar of soap.

Find out more (Financial Times)

23. Vicars and priests have the highest job satisfaction of all UK workers.

Find out more

24. Narwhals’ long tusks – an exaggerated front tooth used for courtship – are super-sensitive.

Find out more

25. There is only one concert grand piano in Gaza.

Find out more

26. Boston in Lincolnshire is one of the most neurotic places in Great Britain while Orkney is one of the least.

Find out more

27. Michael Jackson made a series of prank calls to Russell Crowe.

Find out more (Guardian)

28. Breaking Bad is the show people most often lie about having watched.

Find out more (Radio Times)

29. The UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency does not permit the wearing of colanders on heads in driving licence photos, even for religious reasons.

Find out more (Daily Mirror)

30. People who swear have larger vocabularies.

Find out more (Toronto Sun)

31. The Queen likes to have her pre-lunch gin and Dubonnet in front of BBC Two’s The Daily Politics.

Find out more (Daily Mail

32. In September 1944 the New York Times explained pizza to its readers and included a rare use of its plural “pizze” – there was an earlier article but it only mentioned pizza in passing.

Find out more (New York Times)

33. There is little international trade in onions – about 90% are consumed in their country of origin.

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January 4, 2016

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Sexy China TV drama busted, returns to air more sedate –
A Chinese television drama that was pulled off the air after the female characters appeared on screen showing cleavage has returned to the screen, though this time showing only the actresses’ heads, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday. The drama, “The Empress of China” also known as the “Saga of Wu Zetian”, was removed by commercial satellite station Hunan TV for “technical reasons” in late December, Xinhua said. Chinese Internet users responded by complaining about the censorship on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. Several complained that they would not be able to see the hundreds of costume changes by Fan Bingbing, one of China’s most popular actresses, who plays the Empress Wu. [Reuters]

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Behind Eugene • Making A Viral BuzzFeed Video

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August 18, 2016

Top News Stories –

Olympics 2016: Usain Bolt completes sprint double –
Usain Bolt completed a Rio 2016 sprint double by winning the 200m; he has already won the 100m in Rio. Bolt’s eighth Olympic title came in a time of 19.78 seconds, and the Jamaican has one final chance to win gold in Friday’s 4x100m relay final. Bolt, the overwhelming pre-race favourite, once again dominated a 200m Olympic final. The Jamaican has now won the Olympic sprint double three times, having repeated his exploits from Beijing in 2008 and London four years ago. Bolt said he was not happy with his time and added it was unlikely he would compete in the event at the World Championships in London next year – his career swansong. “I said it would be 100m and that’s it,” he told BBC Sport. “My coach has a way of trying to convince me, but personally I believe this is my last one.” [BBC] See List of the Day

Usain-BoltUsain Bolt

Rio Olympics 2016: USA’s Ryan Crouser breaks 28-year record to win shot put gold –
Ryan Crouser broke a 28-year Olympic record to win gold for the United States in the men’s shot put final. Crouser, 23, threw 22.52m with his fifth throw to break East German Ulf Timmermann’s record of 22.47m set in Seoul in 1988. Joe Kovacs, the 2015 world champion, made it a USA one-two with a best throw of 21.78m, as New Zealand’s Tomas Walsh took bronze with 21.36m. Poland’s Tomasz Majewski, who won gold in 2012, finished sixth with 20.72m. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Man solves Rubik’s Cube faster than Usain Bolt can win 100 meter race

List of the Day –

Usain Bolt International competitions results [Wikipedia]

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
2001 World Youth Championships Debrecen, Hungary 5th (semis) 200 metres 21.73
2002 World Junior Championships Kingston, Jamaica 1st 200 metres 20.61 (wind: +0.9 m/s)
2nd 4×100 metres relay 39.15 NJR
2nd 4×400 metres relay 3:04.06 NJR
2003 World Youth Championships Sherbrooke, Canada 1st 200 metres 20.40
Pan American Junior Championships Bridgetown, Barbados 1st 200 metres 20.13 WYB
2nd 4×100 metres relay 39.40
2004 CARIFTA Games Hamilton, Bermuda 1st 200 metres 19.93 WJR
Olympic Games Athens, Greece 5th (heats) 200 metres 21.05
2005 Central American and Caribbean Championships Nassau, Bahamas 1st 200 metres 20.03
2006 World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany 3rd 200 metres 20.10
IAAF World Cup Athens, Greece 2nd 200 metres 19.96
2007 World Championships Osaka, Japan 2nd 200 metres 19.91
2nd 4×100 metres relay 37.89
2008 Olympic Games Beijing, China 1st 100 metres 9.69 WR OR
1st 200 metres 19.30 WR OR
1st 4×100 metres relay 37.10 WR OR
2009 World Championships Berlin, Germany 1st 100 metres 9.58 WR
1st 200 metres 19.19 WR
1st 4×100 metres relay 37.31 CR
2011 World Championships Daegu, South Korea DSQ[260] 100 metres —
1st 200 metres 19.40 WL
1st 4×100 metres relay 37.04 WR
2012 Olympic Games London, United Kingdom 1st 100 metres 9.63 OR
1st 200 metres 19.32
1st 4×100 metres relay 36.84 WR
2013 World Championships Moscow, Russia 1st 100 metres 9.77
1st 200 metres 19.66
1st 4×100 metres relay 37.36
2014 Commonwealth Games Glasgow, Scotland 1st 4×100 metres relay 37.58 GR
2015 World Relay Championships Nassau, Bahamas 2nd 4×100 metres relay 37.68
World Championships Beijing, China 1st 100 metres 9.79
1st 200 metres 19.55 WL
1st 4 × 100 metres relay 37.36 WL
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1st 100 metres 9.81
1st 200 metres 19.78

Other News Stories –

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  • Three bombings targeting police and military kill at least 120 people and wound 2190 in Turkey’s southeast. (BBC)
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  • The Obama Administration will phase out the use of privately-owned federal prisons. The move will affect private prisons which house 220,660 federal inmates, out of a total of nearly 2,000,000. (BBC)
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  • Twitter announces 2,035,000 terror-linked accounts have been suspended over the past six months amid increasing pressure on tech companies from the White House to censor extremists from groups likeISIL. (CBS News)

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